Smogon Simple Questions & Suggestions Thread

Why do Smogon tournaments (official and unofficial) generally use a week to week schedule? Wouldn't things like the chatroom tours work better on average, esp. for certain formats?

Less ways to cheat, less time to scout, don't need to TO every day, and makes the spectator experience a lot easier. I've been lurking threads for different tournaments and it feels like 1/3rd matches are settled by activity, something that never happens when everyone is on board to play the entire tournament at a certain time, you only have to be available at one time block and you're good and as a TO there are way less moral decisions (especially subjective) you have to make.

For some tournaments, such as OU, there is an element of "How does the meta evolve each week?" but also tournaments such as Random Battles tournaments on forum I've seen also do this, and that has no prepping, or making a team, and basically no evolving format outside of the occasional changes to sets, or new Pokemon drops.
A week-to-week schedule allows people who have busy lives to play tournaments, as well as being more accessible for those who live in varying timezones (you would hard pressed to see Australians participate in a 5pm EDT tournament, as seen with Smogon Tour).
 

Celever

i am town
is a Community Contributor
Why do Smogon tournaments (official and unofficial) generally use a week to week schedule? Wouldn't things like the chatroom tours work better on average, esp. for certain formats?

Less ways to cheat, less time to scout, don't need to TO every day, and makes the spectator experience a lot easier. I've been lurking threads for different tournaments and it feels like 1/3rd matches are settled by activity, something that never happens when everyone is on board to play the entire tournament at a certain time, you only have to be available at one time block and you're good and as a TO there are way less moral decisions (especially subjective) you have to make.

For some tournaments, such as OU, there is an element of "How does the meta evolve each week?" but also tournaments such as Random Battles tournaments on forum I've seen also do this, and that has no prepping, or making a team, and basically no evolving format outside of the occasional changes to sets, or new Pokemon drops.
Speaking on behalf of random battles, the reason all major tournaments are run on a weekly schedule on forums is for inclusivity. Top random battles players come from all around the world, so timezones make a live event have outright a lower standard of gameplay because many top players would be unable to attend, and also include lots of ages (but mainly older) which would further restrict this as people have real life responsibilities that restrict the time they can be available for. High level gameplay also takes a long time -- the average set takes at minimum 30 minutes and is usually more like 40-50 -- meaning that a live tournament of BO3 sets would be a whole-day event since there are many rounds. Not only does this limit inclusivity further, but actually sounds way less fun and enjoyable, and more tiring, to play in, which would further limit the competivity of the tournament.

I would imagine most of these reasons also apply to teambuilt formats.

WRT lots of matches being settled by activity, live tournaments wouldn't actually fix this because people will sign up to the tournaments and not attend. It is likelier to also have more dropouts and activity calls in later rounds, as lots of people will sign up to the tournament to play a few games while always intending to go to sleep part-way through, or actual emergencies could happen which require their attention more urgently than a for-fun tournament does. Live tournaments are harmful to games getting done, not beneficial. If people can't play a tournament set in a week, they're probably not committed enough to attend a live tournament and see it through. Scheduling isn't difficult.
 
Speaking on behalf of random battles, the reason all major tournaments are run on a weekly schedule on forums is for inclusivity. Top random battles players come from all around the world, so timezones make a live event have outright a lower standard of gameplay because many top players would be unable to attend, and also include lots of ages (but mainly older) which would further restrict this as people have real life responsibilities that restrict the time they can be available for. High level gameplay also takes a long time -- the average set takes at minimum 30 minutes and is usually more like 40-50 -- meaning that a live tournament of BO3 sets would be a whole-day event since there are many rounds. Not only does this limit inclusivity further, but actually sounds way less fun and enjoyable, and more tiring, to play in, which would further limit the competivity of the tournament.

I would imagine most of these reasons also apply to teambuilt formats.
I'd like to pick at your brain some more with more questions, if you don't mind; If you feel this is too argumentative, feel free to tell me and I will delete this post:

A lot of tournaments in most competitive videogames consider maintaining mental and being able to play a lot at a given time to be a serious competitive element to their games, and players that cannot play for hours without losing their luster are docked points by most people for this. VGC tournaments in-person for instance are all a long day affair, and in a lot of player's accounts of how they did, their mental throughout the day as a competitor is a big element of their performance.

For a personal example, I play competitive Splatoon, a 4v4 shooter. Even losing the tournament, it will likely take hours for our run as a team to finish. Keeping mental and not getting tired throughout the stretches of pools, loser's bracket, winners etc. is considered a big strength as a player, and actively coveted.

I can see the point of timezones though, especially as a player who has been unable to play in certain teams or events because of timezone conflicts. But as I mentioned, it seems that Smogon has a big issue with activity wins/losses? There is a Policy Review thread active about it, currently.

What makes Smogon tend to not care for this element in competitive tournaments?
 

Celever

i am town
is a Community Contributor
I'd like to pick at your brain some more with more questions, if you don't mind; If you feel this is too argumentative, feel free to tell me and I will delete this post:

A lot of tournaments in most competitive videogames consider maintaining mental and being able to play a lot at a given time to be a serious competitive element to their games, and players that cannot play for hours without losing their luster are docked points by most people for this. VGC tournaments in-person for instance are all a long day affair, and in a lot of player's accounts of how they did, their mental throughout the day as a competitor is a big element of their performance.

For a personal example, I play competitive Splatoon, a 4v4 shooter. Even losing the tournament, it will likely take hours for our run as a team to finish. Keeping mental and not getting tired throughout the stretches of pools, loser's bracket, winners etc. is considered a big strength as a player, and actively coveted

I can see the point of timezones though, especially as a player who has been unable to play in certain teams or events because of timezone conflicts. But as I mentioned, it seems that Smogon has a big issue with activity wins/losses? There is a Policy Review thread active about it, currently..

What makes Smogon tend to not care for this element in competitive tournaments?
I edited my post after posting and it covers some of this haha but :P

I think the reason just comes down to that Smogon prioritises skill at the game over any other factor. We still have the mental fortitude testing -- particularly as in many tournaments (and most rands tournaments) later rounds in single elim will become best of 5, and in team tournaments the main formats will have a best of 5 slot. Best of 3 is, in itself, a pretty time-consuming and tiring affair sometimes.

I don't actually think players in other tournaments perceive being able to play a lot on one big event day as an element of skill at the game. They do consider it an element of being good at that game competitively, because the only way for those games' events to run are as major in-person events. But that's not game skill, and shouldn't be misconstrued as such. If someone in a video game that usually runs in-person events had a 100% winrate against the best players in the world, but only played 1 series a day, no one would claim they were bad at the game. They'd recognise their skill while also understanding that the tournament structure is bad for them. EDIT: Also yeah it doesn't only refer to in-person; Splatoon and Pokémon Unite and such are online event days because you have to arrange to all play together as a team anyway. Pokémon doesn't have that problem either.

So Smogon doesn't run major live tournaments simply for the reason that it doesn't have to. Having the stamina to play for 10 hours a day isn't something that makes you better at the game Pokémon. It would make you better at 10 hour in-person Pokémon tournaments, but that's the only thing it would make you better at.

The activity wins thread in Tournament Policy isn't actually about activity wins or losses, really. It's about decorum regarding emergencies. It's kind of a stupid thread IMO because emergencies that happen 30 seconds or even during a series are still valid. If your house sets on fire in the finals of OST you shouldn't lose because you timed out in the game while putting it out. Pokémon has lots of activity wins and losses in the first round, and then a few hold-overs in the second round, of major tournaments. After that it dwindles a lot, and so in large tournaments like random battles usually has, activity wins and losses are basically not a thing from round 4 or on, and at that point there's still a huge number of players in it. Those players get to have fun and not be playing 9 hours into the tournament by the time they get to finals, which lets them show off their skill. I just have no idea why it would be desirable for that not to be the case when it doesn't have to be.

Why make the player experience worse just to test which players can best deal with it being worse?
 

Melt Gibson

planting gardens in the potholes
is a Forum Moderator
Why do Smogon tournaments (official and unofficial) generally use a week to week schedule? Wouldn't things like the chatroom tours work better on average, esp. for certain formats?

Less ways to cheat, less time to scout, don't need to TO every day, and makes the spectator experience a lot easier. I've been lurking threads for different tournaments and it feels like 1/3rd matches are settled by activity, something that never happens when everyone is on board to play the entire tournament at a certain time, you only have to be available at one time block and you're good and as a TO there are way less moral decisions (especially subjective) you have to make.

For some tournaments, such as OU, there is an element of "How does the meta evolve each week?" but also tournaments such as Random Battles tournaments on forum I've seen also do this, and that has no prepping, or making a team, and basically no evolving format outside of the occasional changes to sets, or new Pokemon drops.
everyone else has basically answered, but yeah. to put it as simply as possible, not everyone can play at the exact same time and scheduling that with the size of some tours just absolutely is not feasible whatsoever
 

Melt Gibson

planting gardens in the potholes
is a Forum Moderator
what is the badgeshop?
users can use "points" determined by what badges they have (and other things, like being room or global staff on PS!) to buy certain rewards on PS! like getting your name color changed, getting a custom avatar, claiming a defunct username, etc
 
I can't seem to like posts. Apparently it should be right next to "Reply", but it just doesn't show up for me:
1692704864004.png

Did/Does anyone else have this issue? Any ideas on how to fix this/where to ask for more help?
Thanks!
 

Lasen

smiling through it all
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
I can't seem to like posts. Apparently it should be right next to "Reply", but it just doesn't show up for me:
View attachment 545077
Did/Does anyone else have this issue? Any ideas on how to fix this/where to ask for more help?
Thanks!
likes are enabled after 5 or 10 posts I don't remember which. it's to discourage people from making a ton of new accounts to boost their ratio and so that botting doesn't become prevalent when voting is involved.
 
likes are enabled after 5 or 10 posts I don't remember which. it's to discourage people from making a ton of new accounts to boost their ratio and so that botting doesn't become prevalent when voting is involved.
That makes sense, thanks! Time for me to post a bit then I guess
 
users can use "points" determined by what badges they have (and other things, like being room or global staff on PS!) to buy certain rewards on PS! like getting your name color changed, getting a custom avatar, claiming a defunct username, etc
how many points for each badge? how many points is a cus avatar?
 

Kalalokki

is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris an Artistis a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris an Administrator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Sprite Leader
Are there any strict requirements for pre-contributor or is it based on when someone notices you contributing to the community?
They can vary based on quality, quantity, and similar such factors + you can have contributions from several sections all count towards something that's basically a starter badge.
 
Is there any way for unbadged users to make a thread in policy review? I tried submitting a post request yesterday, but it requires you to link a thread. I can assure this is no joke post -- it's about addressing 10+ year old issues with the usage stats based on research I've done for 1.5 years.
 

Blitz

Mightiest of Cleaves
is a Member of Senior Staffis a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Discord Leader
Is there any way for unbadged users to make a thread in policy review? I tried submitting a post request yesterday, but it requires you to link a thread. I can assure this is no joke post -- it's about addressing 10+ year old issues with the usage stats based on research I've done for 1.5 years.
We discussed this internally - you should be able to post in PR now.
 

pokemonisfun

Banned deucer.
totally off the cuff but I think this could help with many projects: often times people sign up for a project or tour in a thread, then the host wants to ping everyone. Idk, personally I'd find it useful if there was a way to ping everyone in the thread with a single @ mention. Not sure if it's possible on these forums, but just a suggestion if it is.

Maybe only let the OP do it or make a clear punishment for those who abuse it if you let anyone do it.
 
totally off the cuff but I think this could help with many projects: often times people sign up for a project or tour in a thread, then the host wants to ping everyone. Idk, personally I'd find it useful if there was a way to ping everyone in the thread with a single @ mention. Not sure if it's possible on these forums, but just a suggestion if it is.

Maybe only let the OP do it or make a clear punishment for those who abuse it if you let anyone do it.
my suggestion:

allow the creator of a thread to request "Ping Access" (either via a thread or button idk) maybe with a reason as to why, or moderator checks thread

if allowed the thread creator can do this
 

pokemonisfun

Banned deucer.
1693103069756.png


can mods/supermods/admins see things we post in sandbox? Just you know...dont want to reveal teams/prep to them! I know it says original poster onlybut just asking.
 

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